The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a 2013 adventure comedy-drama featuring Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty, a negative assets manager at LIFE magazine who works closely with the famous photographer Sean O’Connell, played by Sean Penn. As Walter’s job is being threatened by the magazine’s conversion to online status and corporate downsizing, a negative sent by O’Connell chosen for the last LIFE magazine cover goes missing, and Walter sets off on an incredible journey across the world in search of it. This post will analyze one of the movie’s widely circulated poster ads through the lens of semiotics.

This poster uses the angles at which the buildings are set to draw the viewer’s eye to the focal point, Walter Mitty himself. Because of Walter’s placement in the center, with his head completely surrounded by the negative space of the sky, it certainly gives the idea of Walter’s head always being “in the clouds”, as he is quite the dreamer (as is referenced in the phrase “stop dreaming, start living” placed at the top of the poster).

The images being shown on the large jumbotrons are actually lives that Walter Mitty imagines for himself throughout the movie. The man has a very overactive imagination that he often gets lost in, presumably because he views his life to be very boring. The poster presents these fantasies as their own miniature “movies” by placing them on these jumbotrons, showing that despite Walter getting caught up in his imagination, he still views these fantasies as separate to his own reality (at least once he actually realizes he’s “dreaming”). Interestingly enough, many of these images are actually other posters used to promote the movie, while the rest reference specific scenes in the movie.

He is also depicted rushing through the bustling city in full business attire, and the strategic position of his arms and legs against the backdrop keeps the poster from appearing too centered and amateur. Walter’s rushed appearance is likely alluding to the film’s primary message: to stop and take things slow, and appreciate the beauty in life without said beauty needing a purpose (for example: O’Connell is shown viewing a snow leopard through his camera, and after lining up for the perfect shot, decides to keep the moment for himself and lets the animal leave without getting the photo).

The typeface is a sleek, minimalist white font that stands out well against the overall blue color of the poster, adding the contrast of a plain font to a busy background in the bottom half and stands out well in the negative space of the top half. While this contrast does look nice, it doesn’t particularly add anything interesting to the overall poster design, but at the very least does not take anything away from it, either.

Overall, I believe this poster to have a wonderful design that intrigues the audience without giving too much away, while also allowing the audience to watch the movie and look upon the poster with a new understanding. The poster has clear eye flow, pleasant contrast, and encapsulates the overall “feel” of the movie without becoming overly cluttered.